VIRGINIA MOUNTAIN SECTION
NEWSLETTER
IEEE Region 3, Council 9, Section 6
November, 1998
Contents
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1. November meeting
John Marsh: Ethics
2. Reservations for the November Meeting
3. October Meeting Report
Awards to Rappaport and Lee
4. New Section Members
Welcome
5. 1999 Student Competition
Applications Available
6. Computer/Control/IES Chapter
November Meeting - Phil Roark
7. PACE: Technology Council
Technical Input for Policy Makers
8. IEEE Career Workshop
VMS Supplement to Outplacement Services
Sections 9 through 16 are in Part 2
Click to go Directly to Part 2
9. Reg. 3 Awards - Nominations
10. Employer Productivity Award
Recognizes Employee Professional
Development
11. Technological Literacy
Conference on Enhancements
12. Special Membership Renewals
13. VMS Web Page - Features
14. 1998-99 VMS Schedule
15. Your IEEE Benefits
16. Virginia Mountain Section
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November Meeting
Spouses Night
Hotel Roanoke
Ethical Considerations: New Requirements and Recent Trends
John O. Marsh, Jr.
Former Secretary of the Army
There are many areas in business and government where ethical
issues are not resolved. A few of these unresolved issues follow:
What rules should govern the behavior of multinational
corporations in the conduct of their global enterprises? Should
they follow local customs or should other rules apply? What role
should environmental and quality-of-life issues play in business
and governmental decision making? How can intellectual
property be adequately protected?
There is no general consensus regarding these issues. We do,
however, need to become engaged. We should recognize that the
education process associated with public policy is just that, a
process, and one in which scientist and engineers have an
important role to play.
About the speaker
John O. Marsh, Jr. is a former Secretary of the Army and a
former Virginia Representative in the U.S. Congress. He is the
former Chairman of the Board and interim CEO of Novavax Inc.,
a diversified pharmaceutical company based in Maryland. In
1990, he was selected by the Virginia Press Association to
receive its Virginian of the Year Award and was chosen by the
Association of the United States Army as recipient of its George
Catlett Marshall Medal for public service. The John O. Marsh,
Jr. Armory, a Virginia National Guard facility in Woodstock,
Virginia, was named in Marsh's honor and dedicated in 1996.
John Marsh practices law in Winchester, Virginia.
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Reservations for the November Meeting
Date: Thursday, November 19, 1998
Social hour: 6:30 PM
Dinner: 7:00 PM
Speaker: 8:00 PM
Place: Hotel Roanoke
Roanoke
Cost:
Members: $15.00
Member & Spouse: $25.00
Students: $6.00
Non-Members: $18.00
Please make reservations by
Monday, Nov. 16, 5:00 P.M.
Roanoke:
David Livingston (540) 857-6261
Blacksburg:
Ira Jacobs (540) 231-5620
Lexington:
Ed Wheeler (540) 464-7548
Radford and Christiansburg:
Russell Churchill (540) 731-0655
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VMS Activities
Meeting Report
At the October meeting of the IEEE Virginia Mountain Section,
Theodore Rappaport, a professor in the ECE faculty at Virginia
Tech, was inducted as an IEEE Fellow. In the IEEE, an IEEE
Fellow is the highest possible grade of membership and is
available to only 1/10% of IEEE members each year. One cannot
apply to be an IEEE Fellow; rather, one's peers nominate you in
recognition of your contributions to the electrical engineering
profession. As Ira Jacobs—himself a IEEE Life Fellow—noted as
he was presenting the certificate, Ted is quite young to be
elevated to the Fellow grade. This fact underscores his seminal
and substantial contributions to our profession. Our sincere
congratulations go to Ted Rappaport.
One of the newest (regular) members of the Section was also
honored at the
meeting. David Lee, a recent Va. Tech graduate and student
member for several years, was recognized by the Region 3 Board
for his initiative in student activities throughout the Region and
active support of many Region projects. Dave has spent a great
deal of effort over many long hours working to promote the IEEE
in colleges and universities in the South East. One of his more
visible accomplishments was establishment of the first,
anywhere, Web page for an IEEE Region. We congratulate Dave
and wish him all the best as he begins his professional career.
Three speakers shared the evening's talk.
The first speaker, Eric Dean of National Instruments, presented a
very informative discussion of LabView, a software product of
National Instruments. Eric used a PC with LabView to
demonstrate how one can readily program a sophisticated data
acquisition system using LabView. Eric's talk was informative,
useful, and quite a crowd pleaser.
The second speaker, Dr. Kami Razvan of Durability Corporation,
presented an evocative discussion entitled "Data vs Information:
A New Battleground in Automation." Kami's basic thesis was
that we are swamped on all sides with enormous quantities of
data, but that data is not the same as information. Only after data
is processed and interpreted by some intelligence can it properly
be called information in any real sense. Kami provided two
interesting real-life examples involving White Oak
Semiconductor and WalMart. Via these examples, he showed
how these two organizations worked to turn data into meaningful
information.
The third speaker, Dan Sullivan of Computer Resource Team,
discussed a range of issues including data mining. The topic of
data mining, particularly, impacts directly upon the data vs
information issues previously discussed by Kami Razvan. Dan
discussed data mining and presented one example illustrating
how meaningful relationships and correlations might be mined.
He listed examples of commercially available data mining
software, including packages from Oracle.
This "tag-team" of speakers provided a very informative and
enjoyable program which was well received by the audience—I
certainly know my students are now asking when VMI can
purchase LabView for our electrical engineering labs!
...Ed Wheeler
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New VMS members
- Welcome -
According to our latest updates, 7 IEEE members have recently
joined the roster of the Virginia Mountain Section. All have
received welcome letters from Dave Livingston describing VMS
activities. We hope to see and meet all of you at future meetings
and join Dave in extending greetings to:
Phillip Boggs, Salem
Patrick Cullen, Roanoke
Jang Lee, Blacksburg
Fangxing Li, Blacksburg
David McNavish, Salem
David Naghski, Christiansburg
Barrett Stetson, Roanoke
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1999 Student Paper Competition
An application form is now available from Dr. John Bay or by
download from our Web site:
http://fiddle.visc.vt.edu/ieeevms/
It should be submitted, along with a 200-word abstract by Feb. 1,
1999. You should also plan to submit a short paper/extended
abstract (1-2 pages) along with the presentation of your poster.
Keep In Touch
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Computer/Control/IES
Chapter Meeting
Joint with IAS Chapter
Design and Application of GE Mark VI Turbine Control
Phil Roark, Sr. Engineer, GE Industrial Systems
5 to 7 PM November 20, 1998 Room 427 GE Industrial Systems
1501 Roanoke Boulevard, Salem, VA
At the November meeting, Phil Roark will discuss and
application of the new GE Mark VI Control for steam and gas
turbines, and other power plant systems.
Mark VI is a new generation of control for GE turbines. Based on
VME PC architecture, the new control features expandable DSP-
based I/O, and is available in single and triple-redundant
versions. Remote I/O configurations are also available. Mark Six
can communicate on a peer-to-peer basis with other power plant
controls, including the generator control, through its industry
standard communication mechanisms.
Phil will discuss design concepts and implementation, as well as
application of the new control.
Phillip L. Roark is a Senior System Design Engineer, Turbine
Technology, for GE Industrial Systems in Salem, VA. He is
responsible for application of new hardware and software
technologies for Turbine Control products. Phil holds a Bachelor
of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Virginia
Polytechnic Institute & State University, and is also a licensed
Professional Engineer in Virginia. Following graduation in 1964,
Phil joined the GE Industrial Control Department in Salem.
After assignments in Process Drives, Metal Rolling Automation,
Engineering Automation, Design and Development, and
Manufacturing, Phil transferred to Turbine Development in
1989. He is currently software project leader for Mark VI, a fault
tolerant control for gas and steam turbines, and other power plant
equipment.
Guests are Welcome. You do not have to be an IEEE member to
attend. Social hour begins at 5:00. Coffee and soft drinks will be
available. The presentation will begin promptly at 5:30. There is
no charge.
RESERVATIONS are appreciated! Call Dave Geer, 540-387-
7359 or email d.geer@ieee.org by 5 PM Monday, November 9.
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PACE PATTER
IEEE-USA TECHNOLOGY POLICY COUNCIL
All of us as IEEE members and members of the
electrotechnology profession share a professional responsibility in
furthering the interests of our fellow members. The Technology
Policy Council (TPC) promotes the federal policy interests of
IEEE-USA members on technology issues and would welcome
your participation in its activities.
The TPC involves member volunteers in activities ranging from
development of IEEE-USA position statements to ongoing
interaction with federal and state policy makers, to participation
in "Congressional Visits Day", and many other endeavors. The
purpose of these activities is to provide policy makers with an
increased understanding of our profession and offer "non-
political" input into their decision making process.
TPC currently consists of five committees. The Aerospace Policy
Committee, (APC)
(http://www.seas.gwu.edu/seas/institutes/iasr/ieee/)
is drafting a position paper on the commercial, civil and defense
space programs and ways to achieve greater effectiveness and
lower payload cost. Also, APC co-hosted this year's TPC
symposium on "Space Technologies for Disaster Mitigation and
Global Health" and is drafting recommendations to be sent to the
Congress and Administration.
The Committee on Communications and Information Policy,
(CCIP)
(http://www.ieee.org/usab/DOCUMENTS/FORUM/COMMITTE
E/ccip.html) approved a position statement on Y2K, is active in
the encryption debate, and is developing positions to facilitate the
internet economy.
The Energy Policy Committee, (EPC)
(http://www.ieee.org/usab/DOCUMENTS/FORUM/COMMITTE
E/epc.html)
is very active in providing recommendations to Congressional
leaders on the issue of deregulation of the electricity power
industry and on energy R&D and provided a workshop at the
U.S. Senate earlier this year. EPC is tentatively planning another
workshop for early next year.
Medical Technology Policy Committee, (MTPC)
(http://www.ieee.org/usab/DOCUMENTS/FORUM/COMMITTE
E/mtpc.html)has drafted comments on medical technology
privacy and is drafting a position statement on telemedicine.
The Research and Development Policy Committee, (R&DPC)
(http://www.ieee.org/usab/DOCUMENTS/FORUM/COMMITTE
E/rdc.html)
is reviewing the recent congressional report "Toward a New
National Science Policy" and will provide recommendations. The
R&DPC is also participating in a coalition to pass legislation that
will double the federal level of support for research and
development over the next twelve years.
These committees generally meet on a quarterly basis and rely
heavily on e-mail for ongoing information exchange and product
development, e.g., position papers, testimony, letters, white
papers. All the TPC committees are attempting to conduct work
in a fashion that does not require travel to meetings, to permit a
wider range of participants and to make best use of the
volunteers' time.
Behind the scenes, decisions which effect our profession and the
productivity of the U.S. are being made. TPC looks forward to
your participation in its efforts to advance the technology policy
interests of the IEEE-USA.
Should you decide to become involved with Technology Policy
efforts you will find it to be a very interesting and rewarding
experience. If you have questions or would like more information
on the TPC, please contact Deborah Rudolph at IEEE at:
202-785-0017
e-mail: d.rudolph@ieee.org,
Raymond Paul at:
202-785-0017
e-mail: r.paul@ieee.org,
or Ned Sauthoff at n.sauthoff@ieee.org.
...Dan Jackson, PACE Chair
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IEEE CAREER WORKSHOP
The IEEE Virginia Mountain Section is considering organizing a
career workshop. It would be a supplement to the services offered
by outplacement services, targeted specifically towards engineers
and other technical professionals.
If you or anyone you know are in a position to need such
information in the near future or anticipate a more distant need
and would be interested in such a workshop, please contact Dan
Jackson, IEEE Professional Activities Chairman, at (540) 774-
0484, or email to d.jackson.ieee.org.
For more details on workshops and other IEEE services, visit the
web site at WWW.IEEE.ORG.
...Dan Jackson, IEEE PACE Chairman
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